Biden's Indo-Pacific shift under scrutiny with AUKUS alliance

France was not invited. They signed a deal an agreement with Australia! It means nothing 

Well, Naval Group was not meeting the terms of their contract. There was a program review about a month ago in Australia and Naval Group failed to pass the review. If you have ever worked a big development program you know that is a very bad omen. The Australians were in for over $300 million USD by then and there was no design yet. Moreover the French had not met any of the local hiring or local content requirements they agreed to in the contract.

nuclear power is illegal in Australia and New Zealand , no nuclear fuel is produced, and no facilities for nuclear vessels.

And what about the 20 MW nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights in NSW? Is that also illegal?

France has a long history in the region,

But not a very good one all things considered.

China might have a long term lease on a port or airport, but they can't carve it out and take it with them back to China. Moreover they have to operate within Australian law. It is still sovereign Australian soil subject to Australian laws, not China's. And if they violate the terms of the lease the lease can be revoked and they can lose the property. At best the Chinese can make a little money off it but some conflate these deals to a Chinese land invasion of Australia. Overwrought hype. I used to hear the same breathless complaints about Japanese investors "taking over America" back in the 1980s. We laugh at it now. In twenty years we will be laughing at the Chinese. The CCP is doomed and Xi Jinping's policies are just accelerating its end. As long as the Quad and AUKUS are powerful enough deter the Chinese from taking any military adventures patience, armed might and the credible threat to use that might if attacked will carry the day for the democracies just as it did against the USSR.

with such a gigantic and expansive business wheelin and dealin Canberra is having with Peking, can the rest of AUKUS trust OZ?

China so pissed off with Australia there are no minister level contacts between the governments.

Australia's call for a covid investigation was politicized by Peking and it banned some items of trade it imported from Australia and put huge tariffs on others. Australia banned Chinese 5G from its networks based on security concerns.

Australia is leading the world in resisting Peking's coercion and bullying. It is one of the few nations that can be trusted to oppose Chinese ambitions of dominance and expansion and stand up for itself. It is by no means a match for the Chinese military, it would quickly be smashed. But it will not just do what suits Peking.

AUKUS makes complete sense.

Can the US and UK trust OZ not to share or sell the nuclear submarine technology to China ?

Yes.

I'd say the Quad was intended to be a small club of local nations with skin in the game - with the US in to coordinate. Bringing in France would have made it too Occidental. France has a long history in the region, and there are many ways in which they can.

I heard AUKUS alliance is superior to Five eyes. Is it true? What is AUKUS? Why is it?

Five eyes is for intelligence gathering and sharing.

AUKUS is a more in depth technology sharing and joint technology development agreement.

Instead, allies are removing their ambassadors from Washington.

Really? Sounds like fake news you guys made up in your deep-state controlled right-wing MSM bubble.

ReasonandWisdomNipponToday  02:28 am JST

Garbage!

Thanks for alerting us.

But when the bullets and missiles fly they expect full support from Japan. Priceless!

IF the bullets ever did start to fly, which I hope they don't, JAPAN will need all the support it can get, at quite a price.

Really? Hasn't it been the sole superpower since the dissolvement of the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991? 

No. Ever hear of this country called PRC? They too are a superpower by any definition of the term. Study up on their order of battle, the technical sophistication of their systems and their level of training. The Soviets were never as tough an adversary as the Chinese are.

Can the US and UK trust OZ not to share or sell the nuclear submarine technology to China ?

Sorry I thought this was a serious discussion. Then you write something impossible.

What with Energy Australia being owned by China's Light and Power Co, while Alinta Energy is a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises!

Sorry but neither company will have access to the Nuclear propulsion technology and they are irrelevant.

Australia has zero trust in the CCP. Over the past few years China has turned itself from a trading partner to a state likely to become an enemy. It has shown it has no respect for Australia or its sovereignty so your continued stirring the pot that is empty is pointless. We banned Chinese 5G and now frequently disallow Chinese investments in Australia that we see as a security risk.

It sounds like China has you in their back pocket so just keep cashing their checks and you'll be fine.

@Hiro S Nobumasa

FYI investments in Australia are led by the US at number 1 and UK at number 2.

China is a way down the list at number 9 just in front of New Zealand. Japan is at 4.

https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/resources/investment-statistics/statistics-on-who-invests-in-australia

Making out like Australia would sell out our number 1 and 2 investors for number 9 Clearly make no sense at all. But then you were never trying to be serious, just trying to stir up the pot.

AUKUS may end up being great for the region, not so much for China.

Australia has zero trust in the CCP. Over the past few years China has turned itself from a trading partner to a state likely to become an enemy. It has shown it has no respect for Australia or its sovereignty so your continued stirring the pot that is empty is pointless. We banned Chinese 5G and now frequently disallow Chinese investments in Australia that we see as a security risk.

I respect Australia's willingness to sometimes take a stand for what matters over what is the financially beneficial way forward. They're leaders in that regards.

"While there may have been some strategic thinking to link European allies and Asian allies through AUKUS, if you end up angering a very important pillar in the region, France, I must say no holistic strategy existed there," said Michito Tsuruoka, an associate professor at Japan's Keio University with expertise on international security and European politics.

Really? An associate professor at Keio is this limited in thinking? Good grief.

"NATO", "Quad",  "AUKUS", then what's next ?? "IPAN", then "SPAN" and who knows what, all this to counter China when all what need to be done is START TALKING to one another and STOP beating the drums of war.

We don't another middle east un the South or Indo Pacific.

Suga's suit is so ill-fitting in that picture that he looks like a little boy playing dress-up in his daddy's clothes. Also even with the mask on he still manages to project that lost "deer in the headlights" look. I still can't quite believe this is the man chosen to represent Japan for the past year.

In 2011 China and Russia started the SCO alliance , and it is now the largest regional organization watch this TRT report explaining it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llU0uJ3Ze4g

Look at the mask wearing! The Russian foreign minister also had a meeting with NATO. He is about 70 and a little overweight but was strolling along without a mask while the younger NATO leaders were all wearing masks....... It's like one is vaccinated with a vaccine that actually works and the others aren't.

Five eyes is for intelligence gathering and sharing.

It's about spying on the general population. Russia and China have counter measures to deny the ability of "5 Eyes" to spy on them.

Mask wearing is so passee…

@Peter14: 10:21 pm JST

The Northern Territory government decided to lease the Port of Darwin to Chinese-owned company Landbridge for 99 years - btw such deals cannot be undone.  

The controversial $500million deal was called into question at the time by then US President Barack Obama because it’s precisely indeed a KEY port !

@Peter14:

Are you aware that China's government could soon own an Australian airport after payin just da-kine $1 for a 100-year lease on the land?

The state-owned China Southern Airlines partially owns Merredin Aerodrome BUT has control of the runways, hangars and the control tower.

Maybe OZ will consider China a secret AUKUS partner too?

Analyzing it for a while it's obviously a British- MI5 invention, prepared-negotiated secretly after the Biden/US lightning-exit of Afghanistan, luring a "Lost in Asia"-Australia and a shellshocked USA into an outspoken Asian nations-hostile, undefinable alliance with absolutely no logical aim or purpous.

AUKUS was originally conceived by Scott Morrison and negotiations started during the Trump presidency. Morrison wanted Nuclear propulsion submarines to counter the increasing threat from China, and figured using Australian AI and fighter drone technology (loyal wingman) and over a decade of hypersonic research to entice the US and UK to provide the needed submarine technology. New Zealand will not allow nuclear powered or armed ships to enter it's territory and I dont know any reason to exclude Canada other than it has its own issues with Russia in the northern hemisphere and little interests in the Sth China Sea or Indo-Pacific region that I am aware of.

The purpose is to "up arm" Australia and share R&D and selected military technologies between the three allied nations. Each get something they dont currently have so it is win win win.

... a very important pillar in the region, France ...

France, important? Hahahaha. They are utterly useless as a military ally.

While the U.S.-France row is not expected to lead Paris to turn its back from the region

Of course it won't. If anything, it'll have the opposite effect, making France even more determined to try to demonstrate their importance regionally. That's obvious.

France could be "quite cool to the Quad for a little while,"

France isn't a member of the Quad! And their objection was to AUKUS, not the Quad.

What a poor analysis.

At least it means the sole superpower U.S.A.

Open your eyes. The US is not the sole superpower. China rivals the US for military power and has better equipment in many ways and better training than the old USSR ever had. As with the old USSR, having like minded and determined allies aligned with the US should deter China from acting on its desires to retake Taiwan, perhaps also take Okinawa and punish Japan for WWII.

Such a photo op

I smell their FEAR..

I also smell the fear emanating from the CCP. Their objections make it as plain as day.

@Mark

Indeed. And these are the countries that accuse China of aggressive behaviour!

It's about spying on the general population.

That is what China and North Korea have perfected.

The five eyes gathers military intelligence. They do not care what games children play or for how long, that is the parents job.

Russia and China have counter measures to deny the ability of "5 Eyes" to spy on them.

Good luck to them. They still get spied upon and they themselves spy on everyone else. It is a free for all. Technology is on the side of the west.

It’s quite odd and interesting that AUKUS did not include China as a member.

After all China now owns key ports, mines, agricultural land, dairy processors, valuable real estate, hospitals, state-sponsored schools, plus water and energy companies in the land of OZ!

It seems Canberra and Beijington are secret business partners after all!

After all China now owns key ports, mines, agricultural land, dairy processors, valuable real estate, hospitals, state-sponsored schools, plus water and energy companies in the land of OZ!

China has its investments in Australia to be sure, as do many other nations. But your list of Chinese ownership in Australia is not accurate. China does not "own" key ports in Australia, it may have part ownership in one or two minor ports. China does not own Schools, hospitals, water or energy companies but may have minor investments in some.

Chinese ownership in things in Australia is about as important as Australian ownership in things in China. Both nations can change foreign investments in their own country at will without taking the other into consideration.

I also smell the fear emanating from the CCP. Their objections make it as plain as day.

Most definitely

if you end up angering a very important pillar in the region, France, I must say no holistic strategy existed there,

The US regime continues to lack a coherent strategy that can bring all American allies together to oppose Chinese expansionism. Instead, allies are removing their ambassadors from Washington. President Bumble is responsible with these setbacks in regional security- the bucks stops at his desk.

Desert Tortoise (Today  02:46 am JST),

You're simply nitpicking. I said, "Hasn't it (the U.S.) been the sole superpower since the dissolvement of the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991?”Taking advantage of this situation, the U.S. tried hard to expand its sphere of influence, even in the former Soviet bloc. The U.S. military never failed to continue reconnaissance flights along China's coastline. Remember the Hainan Island Incident of 2001?

The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union was a rare chance for the U.S. to help achieve genuine world peace. But the U.S. made a shambles of that chance by acting the opposite way.

An attempt to translate the introduction of "Tale of the Heike":

The echoing sounds of bells from Gionshoja Monastery sounds like telling how ephemeral and transient this world is. The hew of sarasoju flowers expresses the transiency of life. The day of the prosperous is not very long. It's like a spring dream. The strong will perish sooner or later, like fallen leaves swept by winds.

So why do nations aspire to material prosperity only? Time to change philosophy.

The Northern Territory government decided to lease the Port of Darwin to Chinese-owned company Landbridge for 99 years - btw such deals cannot be undone. 

If it becomes a security issue it can most definitely be undone. And the ownership is retained by the state.

Are you aware that China's government could soon own an Australian airport after payin just da-kine $1 for a 100-year lease on the land?

The state-owned China Southern Airlines partially owns Merredin Aerodrome BUT has control of the runways, hangars and the control tower.

Maybe OZ will consider China a secret AUKUS partner too?

Sorry but no foreign company has ownership, of anything that the government can not take away at any time for security reasons. Any control is illusionary and at the discretion of the government. Laws can be changed and contract voided if needed. Time you lived in the real world. You think the CCP couldnt take away the tesla factory or other foreign assets in China if it wanted to? It is not the only one that can.

“We'd sell it for a dollar, as long as it still remained a public airfield and no one was charged landing fees to use it,”

The Chinese pilot school was suspended in 2016, and remains non operational.

The Government can take the small WA outback airport back at any time.

Why AUKUS and not AUCAKUNZ ?

Like everybody else I was totally flabbergasted by this new, strange, totally mysterious composition of AUKUS, covering a kind of Pacific reincarnation of NATO.

Analyzing it for a while it's obviously a British- MI5 invention, prepared-negotiated secretly after the Biden/US lightning-exit of Afghanistan, luring a "Lost in Asia"-Australia and a shellshocked USA into an outspoken Asian nations-hostile, undefinable alliance with absolutely no logical aim or purpous.

It is obvious, that Boris Johnson tried secretly to get two other Enlish-speaking nations, Canada and New Zeeland along, but they were smart enough to decline joining this new Anglosaxon

Submarine Oxford-Harwad Club.......so it’s called AUKUS and not AUCAKUNZ.

Thats a shame, the BBC and CNN reporters would have had a feast learning to agree to say AUCAKUNZ.

The first serious effect of this humiliation of everybody outside AUKUS, is the recalling of the French Ambassador from Washington, and an icy silence from Japan, Indonesia and India.

China immediately labeled it a new Cold War.

That however is not correct. AUKUS is nothing more than a non-transparent, desperate Boris Johnson effort to bluffing the UK public opinion away from the damaging effects of Brexit, and concurrently trying to harm the unity of EU and stopping Scotland from joining.

Visiting the White House yesterday, trying to collect Biden-US support for divided Ireland in exchange for the submarine deal failed completely…..Biden is for a “No Boarders Ireland”.

It’s time for UK and Boris to grow up….nuclear power is illegal in Australia and New Zealand , no nuclear fuel is produced, and no facilities for nuclear vessels.

This AUKUS deal is like bying-driving a super car in Sweden that only drives on gas sold in New York.

Garbage!

Japan was not invited in AUKUS.

India was not invited.

France was not invited. They signed a deal an agreement with Australia! It means nothing 0. It's like Japan signing a deal with S. Korea. It's only temporary. Short term. Paper for the toilet.

Japan gets no advance technology yet again!

We are the closest to China, closet to Russia and North Korea. We are part of Quad Alliace to balance China, we support Taiwan..... YET Again we don't even get the same technology Australia gets. Pathetic!

F22 plane. Nope. Not for Japan. Too advance.

Nuclear propulsion?? Nope. Only for English brothers UK in the 50s and now Australia in 2021. They could have offered the technology to Japan and see what happens. No such offer for Japan. 0.

This crap end of the stick Japan always gets its getting old and annoying. But when the bullets and missiles fly they expect full support from Japan. Priceless!

Five Eyes, Quads, Aukus -- Are they military alliances in an attempt to contain rising China doubled and redoubled? I am confused.

At least it means the sole superpower U.S.A. cannot deal with an international problem alone any longer. Does it show the decline of the U.S. and the rise of another superpower? "The Tale of Heike", a 14th century Japanese masterpiece, describes the worldly transience very aptly.

Peter14Sep. 26  11:27 pm JST

> Sorry but no foreign company has ownership, of anything that the government can not take away at any time for security reasons. Any control is illusionary and at the discretion of the government. Laws can be changed and contract voided if needed. Time you lived in the real world. You think the CCP couldnt take away the tesla factory or other foreign assets in China if it wanted to? It is not the only one that can.

My bad mate!

What me tryin to gently say is ... with such a da-kine gigantic and expansive business wheelin and dealin Canberrajing is having with Beijington, can the rest of AUKUS trust OZ?

Desert Tortoise (Today  09:41 am JST),

The US is not the sole superpower.

Really? Hasn't it been the sole superpower since the dissolvement of the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991? And to our chagrin, as a sole superpower, hasn't the U.S. exerted itself to expand its sphere of influence and strengthen its military by deploying missile contingents even to a country of the former Soviet Union?

It's this mistaken foreign policy on the part of the U.S. that has led to the current volatile international situation to the extent to be called the new Cold War era.

@Peter14

Can the US and UK trust OZ not to share or sell the nuclear submarine technology to China ?

What with Energy Australia being owned by China's Light and Power Co, while Alinta Energy is a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises!

the Quad is more likely to pursue non-military initiatives, given that countries such as India, the only member among the four that shares a land border with China, and Japan, which has close economic ties with China, are unlikely to want the group to behave too antagonistically toward Beijing.

France has nothing to worry, QUAD ain't gonna do squat.

China lied and people died. Many, it turns out.

Now Biden wants closer ties to China on trade and climate change.

Far from holding China accountable, Biden, or his handlers, seeks appeasement.

Japan needs a strong leader now more than ever. Not one that can be bought or sold.

Whether it's QUAD or AUKUS in the end Japan will suffer its impact because America is never a faithful Ally. It's supporting Japan because it doesn't want china supremacy over the world. Japan should understand that staying neutral is the best policy. Because both the US and China mark off will directly impact the Japanese economy. Indian PM butchered 20,000 Muslims in Gujrat so why Japan is siding with a muderer.

I heard AUKUS alliance is superior to Five eyes. Is it true? What is AUKUS? Why is it?

AUKUS does not signal that France or Europe will be sidelined when it comes to Indo-Pacific matters. It is simply a new structure that will engage with partners both regional and beyond to maintain a rules based free and open region that is neither owned nor controlled by any one nation.